Sunday, August 30, 2015

E got baptised on Saturday! It was amazing. I couldnt believe how the Lord had prepared her throughout all of this time to finally become a member of the true church. She was so excited for her baptism. She even arrived before anyone else (including us!). It was a great service. I enjoyed onced again getting to experience a convert recieving the Holy Ghost. I think that is my favorite part of the baptismal process. It is so powerful seeing someone recieve the gift and then their first priesthood blessing.

After the baptism we had the Chile vs Argentina game for the American Cup and CHILE WON!! We are officially champions of 2015! It was a great game, and afterwards the city went crazy. Luckily, we had instructions for the mission president to stay inside afterwards.

Today, my favorite family ever came from Caldera to take us to Pan de Azucar. Its a really beautiful national park about 30 minutes from Chañaral. Unfortunately the main attractions where there is the best view was closed due to damage to the road during the flooding. However, we still had a blast, did a bbq and went rock climbing at one the local beaches. It was a ton of fun! The hard part was saying good bye. I can already sense that this week is not going to be an easy one.

​ I love you guys and am so excited to see you in this next week. I cant believe that the time has past so rapidly, but thank you so much for your love and support. You guys helped me get through some of the tough moments in the mission. The fun stories and memories always helped me when I needed a reason to laugh and to keep pushing forward. Thank you for raising me in this great church where I have been able to learn to work, serve, love, and now have a close relationship with my Savior. I love you guys and thank you for all of your love and perseverance that has made all of this possible.

This week was great! Elba keeps progressing and on Saturday she had her bautismal iterview. She is super excited and we are too. She came to church as well so that we could officially announce her baptism for this Saturday! Its a fourth of July baptism! How fun! We are going to have the service in the morning because in the afternoon is the ending of the American Cup (soccer stuff), so we figured it would be hard for people to give up their football haha. Nonetheless, it is going to be awesome.

It feels like the whole week was full of miracles. We found 10 new invesitgators and had a record number of lessons for the week. I really know that Heavenly Father has prepared people here to be baptised. This week we also we also had zone conference and President Dalton and the office group came to train us. Its my last zone conference, so I got to share my testimony at the end. How weird is that. I didnt think it would be any big deal, but it was a little nerve wrecking.

On Sunday, President and his wife were still in Chañaral,so they attended our meetings. Everyone was nervous which is pretty funny to see, but they both gave really great talks about the temple and sacriment. Sister Dalton mentioned that the temples are the most holy places in the world. Then she added that the temple in Santiago is the holiest place in all of Chile. Thats amazing right? To think that in one building you can find the most calming and peaceful setting in the whole country. It would obviously be nice to have 2 or 3 or 50 of the holiest building here in Chile, but to think that there is just one and that anyone who wants to and completes the requirements to enter, can, is amazing. I am really excited to be able to enter the temple again in just a few weeks.

Today is my second to last Pday. I have next week and then one other Monday, but I will be passing that one in Antofagasta, so it will be different. Its so weird to think about. But I guess everything is coming to an end. Anyways today we went with a the Rojas family to the mountain and made sopaipillas. It was super fun and I finally got to see a little greenery in the hills. We climbed up the mountain and the view was amazing!

​Well, I had a lot more photos to send, but the internet is really slow. I suppose two weeks isnt too much time to wait:)

This week has been great. I think I am finally getting that "I am going home" feeling because everything is feeling like the last time. The funny thing is that I still have a few weeks until everything really becomes my last opportunity. So I just have to live it up until then. This week, we had a lot of success with E. We put a baptismal date for the 4th of July (she is a miracle for sure), and she is super excited. I cant believe that she is progressing so rapidly. This week will be the test though because we have to teach her the word of wisdom, tithing, and the law of chastity. We are praying for her every night. She really feels that this is the true church and is so sweet. I will have to let you know next week how everything went.

On Friday we travelled to Tal Tal to do exchanges with the sisters there. That truly was a "last time" moment, but I enjoyed it. I got to see some of the families I had met the last time we did exchanges there, so that was a lot of fun. Soccer is again taking Chile by storm now that the American Cup has started. Everytime Chile plays, everyone is having a BBQ and miraculously dont have time for the missionaries. To make things even worse, the American Cup is being hosted by Chile, so all of the games are being watched by the Chileans since they feel that they must win. Its pretty exciting hearing everyone talk about what teams are going against what teams, but the whole American Cup thing couldnt have started in a few weeks more? Hahaha. I guess, I should consider it a blessing though, that unlike American football, the soccer games are during the week and not Sundays:)

Today, for p day we dedicated ourselves to the arts. We bought some tempera paint and paper and are doing our own interpretations of Chañaral. We havent finished yet, but it was a lot of fun and definitely helped unstress a little bit. This week we have lots of people to be teaching so that they can all come to church on Sunday. Wish us luck!

This week we met a ton of new people that are receptive. We havent been able to teach many of them, but thats what this next week is for. On Sunday we had our weekly Branch Family Home Evening and all of new investigators arrived. It was awesome! Before the FHE we had gone to visit one investigator Y, so that she could come with us. We ended up arriving a little late with her at the chapel, but when we walked in we were surprised to see that almost all of the people that had come were our invesitgators! It was a lot of fun and hopefully, they will continue to come to the church.

One of the new invesitgators is E. She is a little elderly lady that we met in the market last week. She was adventist and then she went to the penecostal church, but she is still searching for the truth. we taught her about the restoration and she loved it. Everyone had told her that the Mormons worship Joseph Smith, and when she found out that he was a modern day prophet she was amazed. We were only able to visit her once before Sunday, but she came to church! She arrived like 10 minutes late and was confused on how to enter, so she entered the cultural hall and sat down. She could hear the talking through the dividing wall, so she listened. As the meeting was almost over, she saw that someone left the chapel and so she understood how to get in. She is so cute! She was one of the new people that came to the FHE as well.

This week was kinda slow. We had trouble getting a hold of our progressing investigators and then went to Antofagasta on Thursday for our leadership counsil. Yesterday was our zone conference and my companion and I talked about consecration and giving up all we are to be what the Lord wants us to be. We planned a little activity and I think it went over really well. Afterwards, I got a haircut! My old companion Hna W has been in our zone in another little town, but with the transfers is leaving us, so I took advantage of her mad skills and get my return home look:) It turn out pretty cute and I think for the first time in all of my mission my hair actually stayed stright for more than five minutes. Slowly but surely it feels like things are coming to an end. Although I still dont believe it entirely.

On Saturday we went to the feria ( like a market or more of a giant garage sale of clothing) and we had a little stand. We asked people how they thought they could find peace and joy after everything that had happened in Chañaral. It was a ton of fun and we got to talk to so many people. The normal answer was that it is going to be hard to find peace again, and then we explained that we can have internal peace through the gospel. We also had several other pass a long cards that ask question like Why am I here on Earth, how can I have a happy family, and how can I know if God has a plan for me. I found that many people had asked the question, but few had found an answer. We took advantage and invited them to listen to us in their homes and now we have a million of people to visit. Hopefully, this week we can get a hold of them and see who is ready to recieve the gospel!

This week was all so great here in Chile. Our papitos that we lived with during all of the rain and flood problems got married today! The ceremony was at 9 am so that they could be heading to Santiago later and be able to get to the US to for their temple sealing. Despite that today was only the civil wedding, they were so happy. It was so cute to see them :) On Saturday we had had a little reception at the church with them to celebrate. She threw a fake bouquet, they cut the cake together, and even shared a giant kiss. How romantic. It was a lot of fun as well.

On Saturday, I also got to be sick all day long. I think I had some sort of food poisoning which is not fun, but I kept thinking I would get better and be able to leave the house. Never happened. The good thing is that I am mainly repared now and working happily again in the field:)

We met a great new investigator named J this week. She is a single mom of 3 and has a really kind heart. Her father was one of the many who did not leave his home in time to survive the flooding, so she has been really sensitive for his passing lately. We have only taught her once, but it was really sweet how she felt the spirit. We invited her to church and she said that she doesnt want to come, not even out of curiosity. It appears we have our work cut out for us, but we feel that when she better understands why we go to church that she will definitely be more excited to attend.

We have also had some cool experiences in one home. A few weeks ago we contacted two women on the street and they invited us to come and visit and teach them. We went several times to their home, but they were never home or didnt have time for us. Then last week we passed by again, and surprisingly they had moved! However, we contacted the new home owners and they said that we could pass by in another opportunity. A few days ago we again went to the same house looking for the new family and guess what? They werent there; however, the woman{s mother was there. She is a member that got bautised about 20 years ago and has bee inactive for about the last 18 years. She was a youth when she got bauptised but enjoyed the activities and events of the church. Recently she lost all of her things in the flooding and is living in a small bedroom with her two youngest children. We were able to share with her and help her to feel happiness and love. She wants to be able to come back to church and this time hopefully she can have a real conversion. Its funny how in this one house we have met so many people hahah. We are going to pass by again to hopefully be able to find this lady{s older daughter, if she doesnt just move on us hahah.

This week M got bautised! She definitely had some struggles and pressures this week beforehand, but she clung onto the Book of Mormon and prayer to get hrough all of her doubts and fears. That was awesome to see. On Saturday we went to clean the chapel with her (I think the first time a convert has cleaned the chapel before their own baptism. She wanted to do it) and she told us that she was really ready. The start of the ceremony was alittle crazy because we thought that the font would fill a little quicker than it did. Lets just say that a garden hose and a lot of prayer filled the font hahah. I dont know how cold it was, but M didnt notice:)

This week, our progressing couple, P and M, came to church for the first time! It was so cool. M really liked the clases and everything and they are going to try to come this week as well. We are having them pray to know whether they should get baptised on the 20th of June and things are looking very good for that date. We are super excited.

I also had my last interview with President this week. Well, there is the interview when I am leaving the misión, but this was the last time that we were going to see him in traveling interviews. It was alittle strange feeling, but thats ok. Two months is still time. Hopefully I will be able to spend the rest of that time in Chañaral. I am so hoping for that.

This week has been super busy. We have had tons of appointments, but its been really fun. Our new family is doing great. They are really pensive on everything, but are completing with their commitments. M is super excited for her bautism! On Sunday, we had our weekly branch family home evening in her home. She prepared all kinds of sweets to eat and loved having everyone there. Like no other time, they were like 30 people who came!! It was awesome. Hna R and I were in charge of the night and for the lesson asked who would like to eat the treats that M had prepared. Of course, everyone wanted to- We asked one of the elders if he was willing to do 10 push ups to eat a treat. He did the ten and then asked who else wanted to eat and with each person asked if the same elder would do 10 push ups so that that person could eat a treat. After 9 or so people and 90 push ups, the elder was weak and people stopped wanting to eat the treats. We then read Isaiah 53:3-5 and talked about how Jesus had suffered for us, so that we can have the reward. It was a really powerful activity and helped M understand the importance of Jesus Christ in her life. It went really well. We then played 2 truths and 1 lie which was a crack up.

We have another couple that have begun to progress and they are adorable. P has been an investigator for about 8 months and just recently her husband has started listening to the lessons. He is super receptive and P already wants to be bautised. We are helpng them pray since her husband doesnt have a background of doing so. Our last lesson with them he said that he had wanted to pray one day to have peace at work, and he was going to do it at night, but he forgot to do it. I thought about how his simple faith.. Turns out when we asked them to pray at night to know if what we teach is true, he thought he could only pray at night. Of course we explained that he can pray in any moment. At the end of the lesson, we encouraged them to do a family prayer in the nights or a prayer as a couple. They both thought it was a good idea and accepted the challenge. As we were about to walk out the door, the husband asked "How do you do a couple{s prayer?" Is there arny thing more than new faith? They are super great. The next day we went to have a FHE and talked about strenghtening families and then played Jenga.

That pretty much wraps up this weeks miracles. Obviously there are always many. I love you guys have a great week and we will see or at least talk on Sunday!

Emilee

I'm a forever student who has found a passion for travel. Whether it be a few miles away or on the other side of the world, I enjoy new experiences and developing a love for everything that makes this earth beautiful.